Well, it’s taken four attempts but i think i’m finally getting close to a nice look for the upper part of the sky in this painting. I’ve changed colors several times, ending up with “blocking” a dark blue and a purple, along with a just slightly darker blue/gray. Some of this comes through in the photo below — not all.

Also worked on the snow in front of the cabin; on the cabin itself, and finally on the trees near the cabin. I started with one tree which was positioned behind the cabin. Its size and appearance didn’t work, so i added a second, larger tree in front of the first. The all the trees etc. on the right side of the cabin have had some attention, but they still need some work.

I did not use the blocked color technique for the lower half of the sky. Just used what were colors and values that seemed to work pretty well, with a lot of blending in the places that needed soft edges.

My little cabin in the snow has had some attention since last i posted. But actually most of my work and attention with this painting has been on the sky, and especially the upper part of the sky, which is where i’ve been moving up the learning curve of color blocking. So, photo below shows progress to date. Unfortunately, the photo doesn’t demonstrate too well what i’m trying to accomplish. Will post another photo after my next steps with the painting. This does, however, show changes between this effort and my first posting of this project.

Here is a better photo of my little flowers growing out of rocks.

For the past couple of weeks i’ve been working on two paintings, quite different from each other. The first i’m calling Against the Odds. It shows flowers growing out of a crack in rocks. It’s a small work — 8” x 8”, on a panel. In a future post I’ll describe the back story for this choice. Meanwhile, the almost-finished painting is shown below.

The second project, which is shown here in a very preliminary state, is based on an experiment in “blocked color”. This is a technique in which paints are applied in small “blobs” (my term) separated from each other. The space in between in then filled in with slightly different hues but identical values. This is supposed to produce for example a sky which is much more vibrant than it would be if you just draw the sky colors straight across the canvas in a line. It does require some practice, and i have not yet mastered the technique. But i show below my beginning attempt for the sky. the remainder of the painting — eg., the cabin, the snow, etc., are just blocked in and await more attention but will not use the blocking technique for those areas. 9” x 12”, panel.

Reference photo

Preliminary Draft